Co To chronicle: [1] Forest planters at the seafloor

A shoreline patrol

As a newly established entity, the apparatus of the Co To - Dao Tran Marine Protected Area currently operates with just seven people out of a planned 21. They are temporarily sharing offices within the Co To forest protection department and lack uniforms, specialized vehicles, and dedicated field equipment.

Meanwhile, their mandate is heavy: managing, protecting, and restoring marine organisms; transitioning livelihoods for individuals involved in illegal fishing toward tourism to mitigate negative impacts on the sea; and conducting environmental education and awareness campaigns for local communities.

I followed Mr. Pham Xuan Hieu and Mr. Tran Duc Tung, officers of the marine protected area, to Hong Van beach. Tung shared that, because the unit does not yet have a patrol boat, they cannot conduct offshore inspections and must rely on shoreline patrols to survey biodiversity and monitor tourism impacts at sea.

Tourism not only generates a high volume of waste but also drives up local seafood exploitation. Furthermore, Viet Nam has yet to implement seasonal fishing bans to allow marine life to regenerate, a policy common in many developed nations.

Under a cloudless blue sky and brilliant golden sunshine, the sea surface shimmered like silver, its water transparent down to the seabed. Looking into that jade-like emerald water, few would realize that the forest beneath the waves is undergoing a silent "fire"-a smokeless blaze causing mass coral reef mortality.

According to data from the Viet Nam Administration of Seas and Islands (VASI), the current composition of coral species in the waters around Co To is sparse and monotonous, comprising only 25 species: 24 hard coral and 1 soft coral. The primary driver is long-term overexploitation by fishers using destructive methods such as explosives.

Reports from the Quang Ninh marine resource protection and development program up to 2020, with orientations to 2030, show that the coral reef ecosystem in Co To waters has lost up to 90% of its cover and distribution range. Multiple reefs exhibit 100% mortality, making this the most severe and rapid degradation zone recorded in coastal Viet Nam.

Mr. Hieu pointed out massive grey patches stretching from the east to the southwest of North Hong Van beach on the detailed planning map of the protected area, representing dead coral reefs spanning dozens of hectares.

In contrast, the pink zones indicating live coral are minimal and highly fragmented: “Geographical, geological, and geomorphological factors once created excellent offshore coral reefs in Co To, but they have been dying off recently. Regardless of the causes, restoration solutions are mandatory because corals serve as the habitat, feeding ground, and spawning site for marine organisms, driving fisheries resources across the region and neighboring waters.”

Roughly 30 to 40 meters from where we stood, several buoys bobbed on the waves, marking a pilot project for coral restoration utilizing micro-fragmentation methods. The project is being jointly executed by the Viet Nam-Russia Tropical Center and Quang Ninh Province during the 2023-2026 period.

During his previous tenure at the Bai Tu Long National Park, Mr. Hieu had opportunities to dive and observe the seabed in Co To. While active coral replanting yields positive prospects, he noted that the optimal solution remains strict protection to allow natural regeneration.

Conservation as the bedrock for fisheries

Walking along the beach, Mr. Hieu and Mr. Tung occasionally stopped to pick up limpet shells or other small snails to examine and discuss: “Previously, fisheries resources in Bai Tu Long National Park could not match this Co To area. However, through effective conservation-specifically protection management, environmental education, and raising community awareness regarding catch boundaries, seasonal limits, and size regulations-the fisheries resources in Bai Tu Long step-by-step recovered. Meanwhile, Co To’s resources are currently depleting. When asked why yields have dropped, locals point to historical destructive fishing methods like electric currents and pair trawling. The law is enacted, and if citizens do not grasp it, we must popularize it. Once aware, any repeat offenses must be penalized.”

In 2013, Mr. Hieu was honored with the Luong Dinh Cua Award for his achievements in transitioning livelihoods for fishers in the Bai Tu Long National Park area to white sea cucumber aquaculture. Similarly, in the Co To - Dao Tran area, he and his colleagues will census fishers practicing non-eco-friendly extraction to plan their training and transition into aquaculture, tourism, or services.

When asked about the hazards of marine conservation, Mr. Hieu smiled, looking out toward the distant waves: "Co To - Dao Tran is an open-sea region with highly unpredictable winds and waves. The weather might be calm now, but heading out offshore, a sudden squall can turn life-threatening. Back at Bai Tu Long, even though it was within a sheltered bay, I witnessed a colleague pass away right before my eyes and had to personally recover his body. That was in 2009, Mr. N.T.K. and two others were on a small bamboo coracle when it was capsized by waves. Two managed to swim ashore, but he did not.

If you do science, you must love the profession. No one gets rich selling gray matter just to fill their stomach. Before graduation, my professor told me to display my degree at home for decoration, go clear an area on the beach, buy a few speedboats, and run tourism services to get rich instead. My university class back then had 32 students studying oceanography; after 20 years, only two of us remain in the field, including me, and the passion is still there. My combined salary and regional allowance now total 18 million VND. A round-trip boat and bus ticket to visit my family costs 1.4 million VND, so I only manage to return home once a month, even though my house is right in Van Don.”

The specific objectives of the Co To - Dao Tran Marine Protected Area include: restoring and regenerating degraded coral ecosystems through a combination of natural and artificial methods; protecting, restoring, and developing populations of rare marine species such as green sea turtles, hawksbill turtles, leatherback turtles, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, and finless porpoises; conserving and developing endangered, rare, and prioritized genetic resources native to the special zone, including peanut worms, geoducks, disk snails, black sea cucumbers, groupers, and nine-holed abalones; and safeguarding biodiversity and natural landscapes to serve scientific research, education, and ecotourism.